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South East Asian Dept Libis.
FROM:
DH Colvin
DATE:
25 May 1988
CC:
PS/Lord Glenarthur
Ci 26/5
Mr McLaren
PS
Mr Gillmore
HKD
UND
A
B
MEETING BETWEEN SECRETARY OF STATE AND VIETNAMESE FOREIGN MINISTER
Problem
1.
The Vietnamese Foreign Minister has requested individual bilateral meetings with EC Foreign Ministers in the margins of the UN Special Session on Disarmament. Should the Secretary of State agree?
Recommendation
2.
I recommend that the Secretary of State agree, and submit a draft telegram to Hanoi. HKD and UND concur.
Background and Argument
3. Vietnamese Foreign Minister Nguyen Co Thach will be in New York from 1-9/10 June for the UN Special Session on Disarmament. He has asked for meetings with Community Foreign Ministers to exchange views on "a wide range of issues". (Hanoi telno 188).
4. Our general policy has been to eschew Ministerial contact with the Vietnamese since their invasion of Cambodia in 1949, although Mr Thach passed through London in 1983 en route to the UNGA, and had talks with Mr Luce. The Secretary of State also agreed last year that we should consider the case for bearding the Vietnamese in the margins of the UNGA over Cambodia as well as pressing the USSR at every opportunity (Mr Culshaw's minute of 29 June 1987). the event, Thach did not attend.
In
5. Such a meeting, coming immediately after the Secretary of State's visit to Hong Kong, would provide an excellent opportunity to bring home to the Vietnamese authorities the problems which Hong Kong is facing as a result of the influx of refugees and economic migrants from Vietnam. It would also reassure Hong Kong that we were doing everything possible to seek Vietnam's cooperation in containing the
MRBAPP
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